No, Marxism Isn’t Economic Determinism
The Frankfurt School has renewed its interest in socialism. After a forty-year hiatus, its descendants are now willing to confront the fact that there must be an alternative to capitalism that emancipatory movements can strive for. As Axel Honneth writes his The Idea of Socialism, “widespread discontent has remained oddly mute and introverted . . . it simply lacks the capacity to think beyond the present and imagine a society beyond capitalism.” There is an emerging consensus that critical theory should reverse this trend.
Honneth’s shift is surely welcome. Indeed, he is one of the most influential critical theorists, having once followed in Max Horkheimer’s footsteps as the…
